XFaden: This ain't no way to start a partnership, Adele.Darwin: This ain't no partnership, Faden. This is you, doin' what you're told, and me doin' the telling, or it's nothing at all.Faden: I was a tÍte when you was still wettin' the bed --Darwin: Was. Where's you street now, Faden? You guns, you gang? Anyone even bother visitin' you in the pen?Faden: You better watch that mouth, boy!Darwin: You old news. Nobody even got a use for you but me. You think you can take me, make a try for it. You wanna work for me, you wanna get back at the old man you'll bend your fuckin' neck. Put up or back down, Faden.Faden: You little--Darwin: I said put up -- or -- back -- down. Good dog.

Holden's ship is destroyed when it answers a faked distress call; Miller's career is destroyed by the search for a missing girl. Each has one end, but neither understands how deep and treacherous a mystery lies in the middle.